When The Clock Runs Out is available on Amazon.com
"What do you do with the rest of your life - when you can no longer do what you were born to do?" RP WOLFLEY
Through one-on-one interviews, archival photographs, and evocative photo portraits, this collection explores the bittersweet stories of some of the NFL’s most famous men, including: Mike Ditka, Rocky Bleier, Ron Wolfley, Chuck Bednarik, Hollywood Henderson, Ron Jaworski, Ronnie Lott, Dan Reeves, Ray Rhodes, Pat Summerall and now, Kevin Turner
Football is more than just a sport, it is a way of life. From the grittiness of practice and strategy sessions to the thrill of game days and the power of cheering crowds, football is the glue that holds a professional player's life together. But what happens when you have to face life after football? What happens when the cheering stops?
Some of them think themselves forever young, forever able to tackle and block and run, not only indestructible but immortal.
Some of them are bright and actually informed about things beyond football.
What they all have in common is that one day they will be separated from the game, and when that umbilical is cut their pain will be far more intense than they ever imagined. They may or may not be ready for it. Likely, the latter. Many teams offer career counseling, but help really ought to begin the day the player signs his contract.
One of the things this book is intended to do is serve as a precautionary tale for those still to come, from those who have already made the trip.
What follows are visits with those who have let go and who have lived to tell about it. They spin war stories. They speak, with candor, what they went through when they retired from the game. Their wives do the same.
What this really is, at heart, is a love story.
Because whatever may have befallen them, good or bad, they cannot, any of them, imagine their lives without the game.
I am honored to add a new life story to When The Clock Runs Out - that of my dear friend and teammate of my husband's, Kevin Turner. Once again, Bill Lyon, a warrior in his own right, has spun a gripping story of crushing blows and the battle of a lifetime in... First Man In: The Kevin Turner Story. " Cynthia Zordich
About the Photographer.
Cynthia Zordich: A free lance sideline photographer, she purposely takes her camera away from the football field and into those places overlooked by other photographers · Her specialty is the candid portrait and so it is the people who play the game, rather then the game itself, that intrigues her · A graduate of Penn State, she knows exactly how the players feel - she is married to Michael Zordich, NFL coach and veteran of 12 NFL seasons · They have two sons, Michael V. (PSU 2012) and Alex (UB), and a daughter, Aidan (PSU).
About the Author.
Bill Lyon: 44 Years a writer. Last 27 as a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. 5 times nominated for Pulitzer Prize as Distinguished Commentary National Headliner Award. Over 70 national and state writing awards. 9 times Pennsylvania Sports Writer of the Year. 1999 Inductee to the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. Covered 9 Olympics, 26 Super Bowls, Masters, US Open and more than 30 Final Fours.
In When the Clock Runs Out, twenty talented NFL players share their private, inspiring stories of football, retirement, and adjustment. Pat Summerall candidly discusses his battle with alcoholism and his triumphant victory over addiction. Dan Reeves takes us on a harrowing journey through heart surgery and an improbable Super Bowl appearance. Thomas "Hollywood' Henderson describes his descent into drug addiction and his soul-cleansing climb to sobriety. These men and other NFL greats are proof of the hold that football can have over a player. They have given themselves, heart and soul to the sport, and their lives have been changed because of it. As these stories make clear, football continues to influence them, long after they have removed their helmets and left the playing field for the last time.
